


Compliance

by SaintHeretical



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe- Engineering, F/M, Take Your Fandom to Work Day, minor car talk, mud and dirt, sex in the rain
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-28
Updated: 2016-05-28
Packaged: 2018-07-10 19:46:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,971
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7003912
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SaintHeretical/pseuds/SaintHeretical
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>As the heir apparent to Forceworks Engineering, Rey is Luke Skywalker’s (only) most promising young engineer. However, her lack of education and licence soon draws the attention of the Coruscant College of Engineering Professionals and their most persistent employee Kylo Ren who, armed with a scowl and a Cease and Desist, will stop at nothing to shut the company down for good.</p><p>An Engineering!AU for Take Your Fandom to Work Day, now with 100% more sexytimes than I experience at work.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Compliance

In hindsight, she should have known. After all, he was too well dressed to be a client.

Rey looks up from her desk when the bell jingles, signifying a visitor to the office. Said visitor is a very tall, very pale, dark haired man dressed completely in black. She’s struck by how warm he’s dressed for the balmy summer weather they’re having and, despite the dark shirt, wool blazer, and strange leather gloves, he seems to be totally unaffected by the heat.

“Welcome to Forceworks Engineering,” she calls out. “May I help you?”

He glances around the small room before focusing on her. “Uh, yeah. I’m Kylo, and I’m here to represent First Order Aeronautics. I was wondering if I could speak to your principal?”

Rey smiles nervously. “Oh, he’s not in right now. Can I help you with anything?”

The newcomer stares at her, confused. “Yeah, I guess,” he mumbles awkwardly.

She gestures to the chair in front of her desk and he sits. Wincing, he gingerly reaches behind to his back pants pocket and pulls out a mass of crumpled papers, flinging them onto the desk. They’re well worn and have obviously been sat on several times.

Rey smoothes out the pages, revealing a sketched out concept for some sort of lightweight aircraft. Her eyes widen when she sees the demands listed in the margins: virtually silent zero emission propulsion, transparent aluminum body, solar cell integration. Already her brain starts working over the possibilities, the opportunities for innovation that can be found in this little plane.

The stranger, Kylo, coughs discreetly, breaking her from her trance. “So, uh, yeah, if you could get your principal to look it over, that would be great. Just so you know, I am going to a couple of other firms today with the same proposal, so I’ll need your answer as soon as possible-“

“I’ll do it,” Rey interrupts. She backtracks quickly. “I mean, we’ll do it!”

Kylo raises an eyebrow. “Are you sure you don’t want to talk it over with your principal first?”

“Oh he’ll be fine. He trusts me.” She pulls out some drafting paper, as well as standard contract document, an old rubber stamp, and a worn and smudged ink pad from the drawer under her desk. “I can draft up some specs for you right now, if you have the time.”

Shrugging, Kylo leans back in his chair, watching as the eager young woman sketches out a design for a lightweight electrostatic drive. Her movements are haphazard and erratic, but the schematic emerging from the seemingly random lines is absolutely breathtaking.

The sketch itself takes her maybe five minutes tops, after which she moves to a complex string of equations that litter the bottom half of the page. Each string of numbers is linked to the relevant component of the drive by an arrow, melding it all into a beautiful chaos.

Kylo scratches his stubble covered cheek, staring at the sketch. “This is unlike anything I’ve seen before. You have this design memorized?” he asks, brow furrowed.

Rey laughs. “No, this isn’t stock. I mean, it’s based off of something I conceptualized for Resistance Motors a few months ago, but I’ve tweaked a lot of it as per your specifications.”

“You designed this? Oh, so you’re a PE?”

She looks up from her calculations. “No, no I’m not an engineer. I’m just a tech.”

He’s halfway to spluttering his disbelief when she frowns and adds, “Actually, I’m not a technician...I’m not licensed...because I didn’t finish my diploma.” She gives him a sheepish smile and extends her hand for him to shake. “Hi, I’m Rey, and I’m a ‘no one.’”

Ignoring her proffered hand, he backs away and stands up, awkwardness replaced by cool professionalism. “That’s all I needed to hear,” he says, drawing a crisp manila envelope from somewhere inside of his blazer. He sets it down on her desk and tops it with what appears to be a business card printed on thick grey cardstock.

“My name is Kylo Ren, and I am an officer for the Coruscant College of Engineering Professionals. CCEP.” He pronounces it like ‘see-sep,’ with a precision that makes Rey’s lip curl. “As of this moment, you have five business days to suspend your operations. If you do not comply, I guarantee we will retaliate with further legal action.”

Rey stares at him, eyes wide. “But...”

He snatches the drawings from underneath her pen and stuffs them back in his pants pocket. “We’ve had complaints about an unlicensed, uneducated ‘no one’ representing herself and her work as professional engineering, producing and approving her own aerospace designs.”

She jumps to her feet. “But...”

“And don’t even try to pretend that your principal has been stamping the work. We know for a fact that Luke Skywalker hasn’t been in this office for over six months.”

She leans forward. “But...”

“But WHAT?” Kylo sneers.

Nostrils flaring, she glares at his challenging face, hands clasped into fist at her side. He stares back for a moment, but when she doesn’t answer he turns away, waving a dismissive hand in her direction. “Don’t try to fight it, ‘No One’. This company doesn’t have a leg to stand on.”

“My name is Rey.”

“Ha.” Opening the door, he calls over his shoulder, “My number is on the card. Do keep in touch.”

He slams the door behind him, causing the designs and patents on the wall to clatter in protest. Rey falls back on her chair with a huff.

“Well shit,” she mumbles. She rips open the envelope and pulls out a very serious looking ‘CEASE AND DESIST’ letter printed on official CCEP letterhead.

“Shit, shit, shit.”

She has half a mind to drop the whole thing in the shredder and plead ignorance when Mr. Tall, Dark, and Corporate inevitably shows up again, but she couldn’t do that to Luke. Not when he’s believed in her over the past year, given her a home, even entrusted her with his family business. She can’t put it all in jeopardy just because she’s too lazy to figure out how to fix this situation.

Sighing, she picks up the card. Angry black text stares back at her.

KYLO REN, PE, JD  
Director of Compliance  
Coruscant College of Engineering Professionals

“Oh, great, they sent the head tool in charge.” She groans, then pulls out her phone and dials Luke’s number

“ _Hello?”_

His voice is hard to make out, all staticy and cracking. It’s normal for his line in Bogota to have some issues, but Rey still finds it ironic that even Engineers Without Borders can’t manage to maintain a stable phone connection.

“Luke. Luke, I’m so sorry.”

 _“Rey?”_ His voice grows tense. _“What’s wrong? Are you okay?”_

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine.” She takes a deep breath. “Luke, they found us out.”

_“They? They who?”_

“CCEP.”

She hears a quick intake of air on the other end, followed by a muttered _“Shit.”_

“I swear I was careful, Luke, I promise. Well, I was pretty careful. I mean, I didn’t stamp anything in front of anyone, and I never told anyone you weren’t looking over things. But-“

“ _It’s okay, Rey. It’s not your fault.”_

She shakes her head, momentarily forgetting that her mentor is thousands of miles away, not right in front of her. “How can you say that? I’m the only one here.”

He laughs a small, sad chuckle. _“Well, first of all, as principal I am technically legally responsible for everything that happens in that office. Second, and most importantly, that wasn’t just some random agent CCEP sent.”_

“Yeah, I know.” She glares down at the business card. “He’s the director.”

 _“No, not that.”_ There’s a pause. _“Kylo Ren is my nephew.”_

Rey frowns. “What? I thought your nephew’s name was Ben. You said he left the industry.”

_“Yeah, I did say that, and he did in a manner of speaking.”_

There’s a bustle on the other end, followed by a flurry of words in Spanish. Luke responds,  then turns back to his phone conversation. _“Rey, I have to go. I’m so sorry to leave you like this, but Manny just informed me that a gang of drug dealers is trying to sabotage the grain mill we just finished building this morning. Look, just lie low for a bit. I should be home within a month or so.”_

“A month?” she gasps. “But I have contracts to complete.”

_“It’s not worth it. Maybe pick up some drafting on the side to keep you busy. I have to go, okay? Don’t do anything stupid until I get there.”_

The line is cut off abruptly, leaving Rey to stand there, her silent cell phone still at her ear.

_Don’t do anything stupid until I get there._

_Don’t do anything stupid._

_Don’t do anything._

With a huff, she grabs her jacket from the coat rack and bolts out the door, locking it securely behind her. “Don’t do anything?” she mutters under her breath. “Not while I’m alive.”

*

The lines are truly hypnotic, the way the jumble together in a mish-mash of scribbles and cross hatches and little dashes that honestly don’t make much sense until they’re artfully gathered together and formed into this design. Watching her draft was like watching a sculptor carve from a block of pure marble, or observing a glassblower pull a bottle from a molten, blazing hot blob.

Kylo traces each calculation with his finger, muttering the numbers and symbols to himself, following each arrow as it points to every little component of the engine. It’s unlike anything he’s ever seen before. It’s so messy and it really shouldn’t make sense or work, but it _does._ The accuracy is so crystal clear that he would bet his life that, if someone were to manufacture this little drive, it would be purring like a kitten the moment it was fully assembled.

Really, it’s all such a tragic waste.

“Hey Ren?”

He glances up at the glass door of his office, covertly sliding the drawings into a file on the corner of his desk. “What is it?”

“There’s someone at reception for you,” Hux, his rat faced redheaded staff member, says. His face twitches with barely restrained glee, a sure sign that some form of pain is about to come Kylo’s way. “She’s angry.”

“What a surprise.” Kylo glances over at his clock and groans when he sees the time. “It’s five to five. Way too late for me to see a walk-in.”

“But she asked for you by name. Said you came by her business this morning and took some of her drawings. Young kid, barely out of school by the looks of it.”

 _Rey._ “She never went to school,” Kylo glowers. “And she’s damn proud of it too.”

He grabs the discarded folder of sketches and brushes past Hux, who is really just smirking excessively at this point. Pausing to brush any lint off of his coat, he also self consciously adjusts his hair and collar in one of the mirrored office doors. It’s not for her, of course, he honestly doesn’t care what she thinks of his appearance. It’s only basic professionalism, plain and simple.

It’s basic professionalism too that stills his steps before he arrives at Reception, that makes him crane his head down the hall until he can just make out her slight form hunched in one of the brightly patterned bucket chairs. She’s still dressed in that ugly oversized khaki jacket from before, and is wearing a frown so sour it could curdle milk. She reminds him of a pirate, or some sort of scavenging street rat that’s just waiting to pounce.  

“Just over there sir,” the receptionist chirps, startling him out of his reverie. “She asked for you by name, wasn’t willing to talk with anyone else.”

“That’s fine, Phasma. This shouldn’t take more than five minutes.” He stalks over to the visitor, his hand extended. “Rey. Thank you for co-“

She jumps to her feet and immediately presses a surprisingly sharp finger into his chest. “You _thief!”_

Phasma shoots him a shocked stare which he dismisses with a shake of his head. “Sorry, what are you referring to? I’m a thief?”

“You stole my drawings! You came into my office under false premises, lied to me, and stole my work!”    

The low hum of the air conditioning drones in the background as Kylo and Rey stare daggers at each other. Hux, attracted by the yelling, ducks down behind the reception desk and watches the scuffle with Phasma, their eyes as wide as saucers.

“I was just doing my job,” Kylo drones, impervious to Rey’s fuming. “It’s our duty here at CCEP to monitor and regulate the profession; to ensure that no unqualified individual is representing themselves as an engineer, or performing unsupervised engineering work.” He waves the folder of drawings in front of him. “Kid, you’re so unqualified, it’s a wonder you even know what engineering is.”

Rey stamps her foot against the polished marble floor in frustration. “If I’m so unqualified, how was I able to come up with my designs? Designs that actually function efficiently and work perfectly.”

He shakes his head. “I’m going to pretend I never heard that, or else we’d have to charge you with public endangerment. It’s obvious that these schematics have been ripped from your principal’s old work.”

She lets out a bark of laughter that echoes across the sterile reception space. “As if! I have calculated every single detail of each of my designs _myself._ Damage tolerance, fatigue and structural analysis, I have even calculated the tensile strength of each individual screw in every single one of my drawings! It is _insulting_ that you would assume that, just because I didn’t get a fancy Bachelor’s degree, I don’t know what I’m talking about!”

 There’s a sharp intake of breath from behind the counter. Rey whirls around and glares at Hux and Phasma, who are suppressing their laughter very unsuccessfully.  “What’s so funny?”

“It’s funny that you would even think you’re qualified to make the decisions that you have been making” Kylo starts, his face deadly serious. “It’s hilarious that you’re so delusional, you actually think you’re above the standards and knowledge that have guided actual professionals for over a hundred years. I don’t know what kind of power trip you’re on, but I’m here to tell you that this ends. Now.”

He lifts the folder of designs in front of him and cleanly rips it in half, sending the pieces fluttering to the floor as Rey vibrates with anger. She sucks in a huge gulp of air, as if she’s trying to fuel herself for battle, but then deflates immediately when she sees the giggling red faces of the gathered administrative staff observing from the sidelines. Suddenly de-motivated, she instead squats down in front of Kylo and quietly collects the torn papers under her arm.

“Are you done?” she says after she rises, her voice low and head lower.

Kylo bites his lip. “Well, considering you were the one who came in here to scream at me, yes. I’m done.”

She nods her head once, twice, then turns and walks straight out the door without another word. Hux, Phasma, and the other nameless administration staff gathered behind the desk burst into peals of laughter punctuated by Hux slapping the desk in glee.

“Who the hell was that?” he snorts in between chuckles.

Kylo glances at Rey’s retreating form. Her shoulders are small and hunched over, and she clutches the torn drawings to her chest protectively as she waits for the elevator. “No one,” he mumbles. “She’s just an upstart nobody who thinks she’s too good for the system.”

He looks up at the clock and groans.

_5:02_

“Great,” he grumbles, stalking back to his office. “Now I’m going to be late.”

*

It takes a mushroom cheeseburger, large fries, and a banana shake to raise Rey’s spirits after the absolute debacle at CCEP headquarters. She fumes as she chews, navigating her car down the winding back roads out of the city and into the small hamlet she calls home.

“What an asshole,” she mutters to herself. “What an _asshole.”_

 Of course Mother Nature, bitch that she is, chooses this exact moment to open the floodgates and unleash a torrential downpour of plague-like proportions onto the already rough hewn single lane highway. Rey curses as she squints through her windshield, the wipers flying a mile a minute in an attempt to create some semblance of visibility.  

She’s almost safely back into town when she sees a pair of flashing yellow hazards on the side of the road. They belong to an old, practically ancient, silver Corellian F-Class sedan that looks like it has seen way better days.

“What a pile of garbage,” she mutters to herself. Out of the goodness of her heart, she decides to pull over as, judging by the sorry state of the car, the owner most likely has no idea how to perform even basic maintenance on their vehicle.

The rain is falling in even stronger sheets when she emerges from her car, tool box in hand. It’s so thick she can barely make out the silhouette of a tall man hunched over the opened hood of the car, one hand rubbing the rain from his face, the other scrolling frantically through his phone.

“Hey, do you need some help?” Rey yells over the roar of the downpour. The man looks up, and her heart jumps into her throat when she recognizes his face.

“Oh great,” Kylo Ren groans, raking his fingers through his wet hair. “You.”

Rey has half a mind to turn around right there, but the very compassionate part of her holds her back. She glances down at his rain splattered phone where he appears to be looking up his engine specs on some sort of online forum. It doesn’t seem to be of much help.

Inwardly fuming, she holds up her toolbox as a peace offering. “Do you need me to take a look?”

He gives her an incredulous stare, eying up her slight frame and sagging wet jeans. “I don’t think so. I’ve got everything under control here.”

She raises an eyebrow and watches him as he turns his attentions back to his non-functioning engine. He fluctuates between flipping through articles on his phone and poking at the various soaked mechanical components in front of him. After a few minutes, he grunts with frustration and fixes her with a dark glower. “Are you just going to stand there and stare at me?”

She shrugs. “What can I say, I enjoy watching engineers fail at things they are supposed to be good at, especially right after they chew me out for being unqualified.”

He rolls his eyes and pushes his dripping hair off of his forehead. “This isn’t really my thing.”

She quirks an eyebrow.

“It’s honestly not. If you _must_ know, I primarily work in civil, with an emphasis on structural.”

“Oh,” she says, eyes pulled comically wide. “I understand. So you design sidewalks.”

If possible, his stare gets even angrier. “No, I don’t design _sidewalks,_ ” he spits. “I analyse and design bridges and skyscrapers. Like Coruscant Capital Bank?”

She wrinkles her nose. “You did that? Hmmm, impressive. Here I thought you just preyed on small independent consulting firms for a living.”

He waves his free hand in the air, then gestures to his chest. “Yes! Yes, I did that! So now do you understand why I may not appreciate derision from a teenaged nobody?”

“I guess.” Hitching up her soaked black jeans, she gives him a final shrug and turns to leave, her sneakers squelching against the muddy ground.

“Just so you know,” she yells as an afterthought. “I had the engine specifications of the 1977 Corellian F-Series memorized by the time I was in middle school.”

She hasn’t even walked two paces before she hears his grunted reply. “Fine.”

Pausing, she slowly turns back, squinting against the torrential rain. “What was that?”

He glowers at her. “Don’t make me say it.”

“Well, I’m not the one stuck in an unseasonably fierce downpour with a car that’s not running.” She rests her free hand on her hip and eyes him warily.

He stares at her with dark eyes. “This is a very dangerous game you’re playing at right now.”

“Oh, and how is that?” she taunts. “As far as I can tell, I’ve got nothing to lose leaving you out here. You’ve already made it very clear to me that you’re not going to stop until you shut down my company. What more can you do to me at this point?”

He lets out a huff of hair through his pouted lips. “Fine,” he repeats. “Rey. Would you mind helping me fix my car?”

“What was that?”

Another huff. “Would you _please_ help me fix my car?”

“It would be my pleasure.”

She saunters over, toolbox in hand. Gnawing on her bottom lip, she assesses the damage. “Ok, so first off I need you to block out more of this rain. It’s not helping things.”

Groaning, he shrugs off his already soaked blazer and hoists it over their heads like a tent. Rey’s eyes are instantly drawn to the way his wet black t-shirt clings to his defined chest, sticking in the valleys between his abs and riding up just enough that she can catch a strip of pale skin peeking out at his waist. His sleeves strain and cling against his arms, exposing a solid swell of biceps. Coupled with the way his dark hair is slicked back against his head and the tiny raindrops hanging from his eyelashes, the vision of Kylo Ren with his arms braced against the raised hood of the sedan makes Rey’s stomach flutter. She’s thankful that the cool air combats the rising burn on her cheeks.

“Right,” she continues, blinking a couple of times. “Let’s take a look.”

She reaches over the engine to check the oil, and recoils when a tug of the dipstick reveals a coating of dark syrupy sludge.

Dropping the stick, she turns and glares at him. “When was your last oil change?”

He’s taken aback, stammering out, “Uh, I don’t know. Last year some time.” He pauses. “Maybe two years ago?”

“And you probably go on a lot of road trips, put a lot of mileage on as well,” she accuses, poking a greasy finger to his chest. “I’m surprised you haven’t blown yourself up yet.”

“Apparently not for lack of trying,” he snaps back. “How was I supposed to know?”

“I don’t know, maybe read your manual or Google some information when you buy it.” She shrugs. “Ask your dad or something.”

Hands clenching against the hood of the car, he mutters through gritted teeth, “I got this car from my dad. When he died.”

“Shit,” Rey hisses. She feels gross, like a stone has dropped into the pit of her stomach. “I’m so sorry. I lost my parents when I was really young, so I should know better than to assume...I’m sorry,” she repeats awkwardly.

“It’s okay,” he responds, his voice gruff and barely discernable above the rain. “You didn’t know.”

She silently turns back to the engine, poking and prodding, checking levels and fuses and plugs. “All of your fluids are low, which is a pretty big issue itself, but I have a feeling that something else is...”

She sighs, pulls off her khaki jacket, and unceremoniously drops it onto the muddy, gravelly ground. With a little grunt of effort she drops onto the already soaked fabric and scoots underneath the body of the car. “Do you have a bucket or something?” she yells, her voice muffled.

Kylo stares at her for a full minute, his arms still resting on the hood. “Uh, a what?”

Her mud encrusted face pop out, twisted in a frown. “A bucket,” she intones slowly, as if she’s talking to a particularly dumb child. “To catch the gas. So that I don’t start an environmental incident under your car.”

He snorts. “No, I don’t have a bucket. Why would I have a bucket?” He glares down at her. “Seriously, why? Do you think I haul water in my spare time?”

“No, I just figured that, along with being an engineer and a lawyer, you decided to complete the trifecta by working as a milkmaid as well,” she deadpans. “It’s not a ridiculous question! Lots of people have buckets in their car for emergency situations.”

“Okay then. Do _you_ have a bucket in your car?”

 Her eyes flash dangerously. “I said a bucket or _something_.”

“Or _something_. That is so much more helpful.”

“Oh my God.” Rey feels her sanity start to unravel like a five dollar t-shirt. “A bowl. A large water bottle. A jerrycan. Anything like that would work.”

His face lights up. “Oh, I of course I have a jerrycan!” Like a flash, he quickly unlocks his truck and retrieves the red plastic jug from his trunk, then hunches down to hand it to her. “Why didn’t you ask for that in the first place?”

“Why didn’t I-? Why you _fucking-“_

She’s about to absolutely lose it on him, her blood dangerously close to boiling, but her rage grinds to a sudden halt when he raises an eyebrow and _winks_ at her before standing up and moving back to the hood. She slides herself under the car as her cheeks burn, and busies herself with draining the fuel line so that she can check the filter.

Five minutes later, she emerges out victorious.

“Well, this is the culprit,” she announced, holding the absolutely putrid fuel filter aloft like some sort of morbid trophy. “I’m surprised your car even ran at all with this thing.”

Kylo wrinkles his nose. “Can you fix it?”

“Yeah, totally. It’s not a hard fix at all. You probably won’t even need to take it in to a mechanic.”

“Alright then!” He stands back and shoves his hands into his pockets expectantly. “Go ahead.”

Rey squints at him like he’s an absolute idiot. “I can’t do it now, it’s raining! Besides, it’s not like I can just _clean_ this and put it back. You’re going to need a brand new filter, and I highly doubt you have a spare one lying around in your car. I mean, you didn’t even have a bucket.”

“Well then, I guess that’s that.” He turns to the car, pulls out the prop, and slams the hood down with just enough excessive force to send a flurry of muddy droplets flying. “And again with the fucking bucket!”

“Well, there’s no need to freak out about it. Just call a cab or something!”

“Don’t you think I tried that?” he yells. “I can’t get a cab in this rain!”

A flash of lightning illuminates the road, highlighting the absolutely wretched state they are both in. Rey is, of course, covered head to toe in mud and gravel, which she self-consciously attempts to brush off with her hands. Her formerly white tank top is stained multiple shades of brown from the various types of mud and grease on the car’s underbelly, and her black jeans are grey with filth. Kylo isn’t much better off as he looks as though attempted to take a shower while wearing all of his clothes.

They both jump when a clap of thunder echoes only a few short seconds later. “That was close!” she says, chewing her lip. “We should get moving.”

Kylo throws his hands in the air and rolls his eyes. “Wow, what a bright idea.”

Rey takes a couple of deep breaths to calm her already frazzled nerves. _First_ he barges into her workplace and threatens to shut her down, _then_ he mocks her in his office in front of his staff, and _now_ he’s trying to pin his own incompetence on her! “What the hell is wrong with you?” she shrieks. “This is not my fault!”

“I _thought_ you said you could fix it! You were bragging about knowing how to fix this car since you were a fetus!”

“Look!” she yells back at him. “It’s not like I just carry around fuel filters for a forty year old sedan in my pants pocket! If it was something simple that didn’t require new parts, I would fix it, but at this point there’s nothing I can do!”

“You don’t understand; I have to be at a conference in-“ He pulls out his phone which, due to some miracle, is still functioning despite the deluge. “-half an hour. I’ve been preparing my presentation for over a month!”

“Maybe you should have spent some of that time maintaining your car!” Rey scrubs her face in her hands for a few seconds before groaning into her palms. “Fine,” she spits, glaring up at him, hardly menacing with raindrops dripping from the tip of her nose. “I’ll give you a ride there, and then drive you back when it’s finished. Then you can make your precious conference.”

Kylo scoffs. “I am not riding in _that.”_

He gestures at her tiny rusted Toyota Turcell that probably used to be blue, but is now more of a brownish green.

She stares at him, eyes wide. “Oh, so now you’re too good to get into my car, despite the fact that mine actually works?”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” he sneers, voice dripping with condescension. “When I said I wanted to get to the conference, I probably should have specified I wanted to get there _alive_!”

It’s amazing that Rey doesn’t just explode right then and there. Chewing on her cheek, she uses her muddy, grease stained hand to push her sopping hair out of her eyes, leaving a trail of dirty oil streaked across her face. “Fine then! Forget I even offered! Wait here until a cab company finally decides to answer their phone! See if I care!”

“Rey!”

He catches her by her bare arm as she turns to leave. The action infuriates her, sets off the tinderbox of frustration that’s been collecting all day in the corner of her mind. She whirls around and forces him back, wrenching her arm from his grasp. “Who the _hell_ do you think you are?” she screams. “Don’t you dare touch me!”

“I just don’t think it’s safe for you to be driving in this weather.” Kylo’s brow is still tense with frustration, but his eyes are strangely soft, like he actually gives a rat’s ass about her wellbeing. “It’s probably best to just wait it out until the worst of the storm passes. I mean, the lightning could hit a tree or something, and then what would you do?”

“What? You want to stay here? What happened to your precious conference?”

He shrugs, the wildness finally leeching from his eyes. “It’s important, but it’s not worth dying over.”

“I don’t get it!” Rey throws up her hands in frustration. “One minute you’re screaming at me, and the next minute you’re grabbing my arm or winking or doing...this, whatever this is. I don’t understand why-“

Kylo licks his lips and glances down at the ground sheepishly and her heart stutters in her chest when she comes to the sudden realisation that, _oh_ , maybe he’s not just interested in her non-compliant work activities. He slowly stalks towards her, gazing up at her through his dripping wet bangs. The rain thrums against the body of the car in time with her throbbing pulse, the air around her growing thick and heavy when he backs her up against the hood and leans in to graze the shell of her ear with his lips. She moans at the contact.

“Do you get it now?” he whispers.

Her head is swimming. She wants to succumb to the sensations, truly she does, but even through the swirling soup of her current emotional state, one tiny irritant pops up and holds her back.

“Wait.”

His head snaps up from her neck, his brow furrowed with confusion and frustration.

She clears her throat. “I-I’m not okay with this just yet.”

He springs away as if he’s just been electrocuted, his hands perched defensively in front of him. Wincing, he pleads, “Oh shit, I didn’t know, I just thought-“

“No, it’s not that. I want that.” Sighing, she wipes the rainwater from her eyes and explains, “It’s just the way you were talking to me earlier. That wasn’t okay.” He squints at her and she squirms. “No one gets to talk to me like that.”

His nostrils flare. “What.”

Rey shrugs her shoulders casually, but keeps him pinned with the intensity of her stare. “I get it alright? You’re an engineer and a lawyer; you think you’re untouchable, and you’re used to always getting your way, but that’s not how it works with me. You can’t yell at me and treat me like shit, then turn around and expect to get into my pants.”

“Okay then,” he counters. Shaking the rain from his hair, he straightens up and crosses his arms, facing her. “How _do_ I get into your pants then?”

She was expecting another hissy fit or outright rejection, so this apparent concession to her terms throws her. “Well, uh, you have to apologize. Say you’re sorry,” she commands lamely.

“Say I’m sorry?” He frowns at the simplicity of the request. “That’s it?”

“You have to mean it!”

“Oh, well if that’s the case.” He gives her a crooked grin that makes her heart leap into her throat. “Rey, I am sincerely sorry for my behaviour today.”

He steps forward and leans over her trembling body. His hands move to either side of her, resting on the rain splattered hood of the car as he moves his face even closer to hers. Licking his lips again, he turns his head to the side so he can rest his mouth against the corner of her smile. When he speaks, the movement of his lips against hers sends a shiver down her spine. “I apologize for hurting your feelings and for being overly aggressive and inappropriate, and I’m sorry for berating you in my office and parading your lack of qualifications in front of my colleagues. That was very unprofessional of me.”

He moves even closer so that she can feel the curve of his grin. “But you’re still not really an engineer.”

“Fuck you.”

Rey latches onto his shoulders with her fingers and uses them to leverage herself up to crash her lips against his. It’s a dirty, slippery mess of lips and tongue, extra wet due to the pouring rain on top of them. Kylo grunts and pins her to the car as he lowers his body enough to grind his hips against hers atop the hood. She writhes beneath him, clawing at the wet t-shirt that clings to his body until she manages to pull it over his head and fling it off into the ditch. He returns the favour and tantalizingly peels the sopping white tank top from her body, dragging his fingers against the exposed skin in his wake.

“I have to admit,” he breathes against her ear as his tongue traces the little divot behind her earlobe. “When I first arrived at your office, I just wanted to shut you down. However, I fail-“ His breath hitches as Rey drags her nails against the wet skin of his back “I failed to account for how beautiful you are. How smart and talented you are.” Her hands trail down to squeeze his ass, and he lets out a whine from the back of his throat. “How much I would want you.”

She digs her fingers into the hair of the nape of his neck and pushes his face up to hers so that she can nip at his full lips with her teeth. “So you’ve changed your mind? You’re not going to shut us down?”

He chuckles. “I think I may have come up with a solution.”

Her grin is luminous and infectious. He smiles and leans down to kiss her, brushing her lips against his before meeting her mouth with a burst of affection and passion. She groans against him, her already pliant body going limp as he teases her with tiny nips and strokes of his tongue, his rough stubble grazing against her smooth skin.

 She runs her tongue against the raised tendon of his neck. He tastes like salt and rainwater and she dusts kisses against the wetness, feeling the vibration of his groans through her lips.

“I-I want you to touch me,” she gasps. Holding herself steady against him, she reaches around and unhooks her bra with one head. Her heart pounds as she pulls it off, exposing her pert breasts and erect nipples to the storm. He complies, cupping her in his large, rough hands, squeezing, stroking, playing with her nipples until she is a writhing mess beneath him.        

Her fingers drag against his chest, mapping the plains and contours of his body as he explores the depths of her mouth. They move in a perfect tandem as if they were machined to fit, like two cogs churning harmoniously in sync. Their bodies slide against each other, aided by the thundering rain, until finally the grasping, groping, rubbing, dragging sensation just isn’t quite enough, and Kylo drops to the ground, his knees sinking into the pebbly mud.

Rey gasps as his long fingers slide against her waistband, making quick work of the button and zipper before tugging the wet jeans down her legs. The droplets of rain dance against her bare skin and he laps them up, his tongue sliding up her thighs until he reaches the junction of her core.

Rey throws her head back against the car when he licks a stripe up the centre of her panties, warming the already soaked fabric with his panting breath. The contrast is delicious, eliciting a throaty moan from deep within her, and she feels him grin against her. He looks up at her with dark, hungry eyes, just waiting for her permission, which she gives with a whimper and a nod. With renewed vigour, he catches her underwear between his teeth and pulls it down her legs, exposing her to the damp evening air.

Kylo pauses there. Rey props herself up and drags her gaze down to his face, to his blown pupils and panting breaths. “Is everything...okay?” she asks timidly.

“Yeah,” he breathes. He runs his hand through his hair, slicking it back against his head and out of his eyes. “I just need a moment to remember this. Also-“ He frowns. “You’re over eighteen, right?”

“You’re asking me that _now_?” She laughs. “Your face is six inches from my pussy.”

“I guess so.” His eyes widen. “You are though, aren’t you?”

A very unladylike snort escapes from her, and she chokes out.“Calm down; I’m almost twenty.”

He lets out a sigh of relief. “ _Good_.”

Groaning involuntarily, he lowers his mouth to her slick folds. Rey feels her body throb with pleasure, her heart humming as he traces her with his tongue, every nook and cranny at the mercy of his lusting curiosity. His fingers dig into her thighs, the pressure an aching reminder that this large, strong man is currently knelt before her, worshiping her with his mouth while he kneels in a mud puddle. It makes her almost delirious with pleasure; his submissive attention starkly contrasts with his boorishness from before and somehow makes the act even more delicious.

He takes her clit between his tongue and pursed lips, and she can swear she sees stars. “Oh, Kylo, I-I-I’m so clo-“ She lets out a low whine as her body tenses, hanging in the balance, until he locks eyes with her and licks her with long firm strokes, and she clenches once, twice, and comes apart against the hood of the car.

She doesn’t even let him fully stand before she’s latched onto him, wrapping her legs around his waist and burying her fingers in his hair as she kisses him furiously. The smell of her on his face sends a fresh flush across her body, especially when he pulls back to lick his lips, his eyes never leaving hers.

With barely a wince of effort, he clutches her waist and lifts her off the car. Rey squeaks as she suddenly becomes weightless in his arms. He manoeuvres them over to the side of the car and pries open the back door with one hand before pushing them both into the backseat. It’s a small space, especially for him, but he still manages to loom over her, his face tense with want, as he kicks off his pants and shimmies out of his boxers.

Her breath comes out in short, desperate pants as she angles up her hips to meet his. It’s awkward to say the least, but when he pushes into her she forgets the confined space and the less than ideal circumstances and just focuses on him, _them,_ on the sinful drag of his cock as he slowly eases out of her before firmly plunging back in to the hilt.

“Oh shit,” she hisses. “Yes, please, take me please.”

 Kylo muffles his moans in the crook of her shoulder as he settles into a rhythm, but she can tell by his twitching fingers and shaking form that he’s already so close.

 “Oh fuck, I’m going to-“ He drops his head to her chest and groans, his hips snapping up to meet hers as he spills into her. Rey squeezes the back of his neck and runs her lips against his forehead as his body jerks and stills. When he’s finished, he raises his head to grin at her, his face so blissed out that she can’t help but smile back.

His grin breaks into a cringe. “Oh shit, I have a cramp.”

Rey cringes as well. “And I think I just dripped cum on your upholstery.”

“This is so glamorous.” Kylo props himself up next to her prone form. “And unexpected.”

The air in the car is thick and humid enough to cloud the windows with condensation. It reminds her of the movie _Titanic_ and, on impulse, she reaches up and drags her hand against the glass, leaving a dripping handprint in her wake.

“So, about what you said earlier...” Rey runs a wet finger down his long nose. “Your solution to my problem wasn’t just to fuck me, was it? Because I don’t think your employer would look kindly on that, unless they really are just that evil.”

He gives a low throaty chuckle, his eyes crinkling with joy. She’s so defiant and energetic and everything he has ever wanted. “No. No, it definitely wasn’t.”

*

_Four Months Later_

“Did you get the Debman contract?”

Rey’s pencil stills as she looks up from her drawing to glare at him. “Yes, it’s finished and waiting on your desk. Don’t give me that look!”

Kylo lowers his eyebrows back to their regular height, and schools his shock into an expression that he hopes looks neutral. “Right, of course, because it’s totally normal to draft a fully functioning lightweight turbojet propulsion system in _ten minutes_. I seriously just got off the phone with them!”

“You sound surprised,” she notes. “You shouldn’t be.”

It’s been like this for months. Occasionally Luke visits for a week or two at a time, to check in with clients and ensure that Kylo’s name hasn’t _somehow_ made its way onto the company’s legal documents, but for the most part he’s absent, claiming that ‘Colombia needs him more than Coruscant ever will.’ Initially he was wary about his nephew taking responsibility for the practice, but Rey’s pleading and Kylo’s promise of weekly reports finally convinced him that it was the most practical and above board method of action for Forceworks.

So now the firm’s office is occupied by Rey and Kylo. She watches him grumble over lawsuits and berate scared businessmen on the phone, and he watches as she churns out multiple designs a day, each more efficient and innovative than the last. Sure, it’s his name on them when it’s all said and done, but she doesn’t seem to mind, more engrossed by the act of creation than the notoriety it comes with.

He drags a chair over to her desk and sits on it backwards, resting his folded arms on the backrest. He leans over, resting his chin on his arms, and stares at her as she sketches. “Well, maybe it was stupid of me to assume that your schoolwork would slow you down a bit.”

She rolls her eyes. “It’s bookwork, Ben. Basic math and physics. I could do it in my sleep.”

His heart thuds in his chest. “You just called me-“

“I know.” Biting her lip, she scribbles furiously on her drafting pad, deliberately not making eye contact. “I must have picked it up from Luke. I’m sor-“

“No.” He pauses. “I like it.”

She blushes, and he resumes his observation, pausing only to retrieve his stamp and inkpad from his desk right before she finishes. With a final flourish, she completes the last label and pushes it across the desk towards him.

His brow wrinkles with confusion as he looks over the schematic. It doesn’t seem to belong to any of their current projects, yet it still looks very familiar. “Rey. What is this?”

Eyes shining with excitement, she runs over the components of the diagram with her pencil. “It’s a modified fuel injector for your car. You said you were having issues with moisture, and I figured we may be able to get one of the guys at the shop to whip this up for you. Luke’s there now; I could fax it over.”

She shrugs. “I mean, you did the bathroom reno upstairs at the house, this is really the least I could do.” Her voice escalates as she rambles, “I have a bunch of other ideas as well that I’d like to try. You seem to be struggling lately with handling, so I came up with some modifications to the steering column that may alleviate some pressure. I mean, you do drive it quite aggressively for such an old car, but we should be able to add in some newer bits without losing its characteristic quirks. Also, Luke was saying that he was able to salvage some parts from an ‘83 F-Series that someone was going to scrap, and I figured I could rework some of the guts to wire in a working FM receiver and auxiliary input so that we can listen to something besides your Dad’s old tapes.” Her breath catches and she hesitates. “That is, if that’s okay. I know you want to keep things the way they are, but I don’t think it’s smart to inconvenience yourself all the time, especially if-”

Kylo’s heart swells in his chest as he watches his girlfriend obsess over his dead father’s car. Pushing up from the chair, he leans over her desk and interrupts her with a kiss, soft and sweet. “That would be amazing. Thank you.”

“Thank _you_ ,” she mumbles against his lips. “For everything.”

Sure, he still works for the “bad guys,” as Rey calls them, and sure they still fight pretty much every day about stupid things, usually her inability to study or his absolute inflexibility, but when push comes to shove, they’re a team first. He’s the brain, she’s the heart. He’s the rules, she’s the imagination. Together, they seem to make up one fully functioning human being and, despite their different backgrounds and explosive beginning, neither of them would have it any other way.


End file.
